LFW A/W 12-13: Vivienne Westwood Red Label

There’s always a political message underpinning Vivienne Westwood‘s clothes, but that doesn’t mean they can’t be fun or beautiful too, and we got all three at her Autumn/Winter Red Label show at London Fashion Week. Choosing the glittering, chandelier-lit Goldsmith Hall was a typical Westwood touch – infiltrating the establishment with her punky irreverence. It was a more intimate venue than we’ve seen in previous seasons, and the likes of Pamela Anderson and Dita Von Teese were absent from the front row, but that gave us a chance to concentrate on what really mattered – the clothes.

These were classic Westwood – the tartan, slogan tees and distinctive tailoring that are her signature motifs were all present and correct, but with subtle updates and twists. The iconic draped silk jersey dress was reimagined in an eye-catching purple and blue tribal print, while her famous folding and pleating appeared on tweed pencil skirts and masculine wool coats.

This was a mature, wearable collection with few gimmicks (apart from the scrawled symbols on the models’ skin – what did those mean?) and plenty of grown-up, chic pieces; a tweed skirt suit worn with cheery red tights, cosy, slouchy cardigans, neatly cropped plaid trousers and a beautifully-cut black tux.

The city girl does punk with tartan braced trousers and a slogan tee

A mixture of pattern as stripes, tartan and a little Aztec come together